Hey Guys.
Hope you enjoy this.
A short message for a few nice people:
Bountyhunter1977: Thanks for the idea.
Zabzab: Thank you.
iXioz: Thanks!
Illuminated: Thank you man!
Guest: I was thinking the same thing.
Po1: Neither did I really.
Shieldbro: You have a really imaginative mind. But you'll have to keep guessing.
narutoDKurosaki: Couldn't really find it.
Naruto frowned as he pulled out another weed from the backyard of an old lady. He hadn't had much except for an apple for breakfast, and even Sakura-chan's sweet voice could get annoying if she kept on repeating lame things all the time.
This time though Kakashi-sensei had divided the entire yard into 3 parts after Naruto had complained about being stuck with the crappiest stuff everytime, so he atleast had that. Given the fact that he was far more used to doing menial labor Naruto completed his portion of the yard faster than his teammates, after which he walked over to where Kakashi-sensei was sitting and plopped down in the shade.
"You know," Kakashi spoke as Naruto looked up, "If you're done with your portion you could help your teammates with theirs too."
Naruto thought about what Kakashi-sensei said, he really didn't feel like helping Sasuke; and Sakura-chan's words rang in his mind again when he thought about helping her – so Naruto made a decision.
"Don't feel like it," Naruto spoke, afterall none of them had helped him in the last crappy missions.
Kakashi sighed as he turned to see 2 of his students that were still working, the team dynamics of his team were still pretty bad. He would have expected something better, but it seems like Naruto was still being quite bratty and the attitude of the other 2 certainly wasn't helping. This team really needed to learn to work together.
Meh, he'd let them figure it out.
…
(Noon)
Kakashi-sensei was gone.
He had told them to complete a bit of team training, but Sasuke had just scoffed and run off to god knows where. Sakura-chan had gone after him, and after yesterday Naruto knew better than to ask her for lunch anytime for the next few days.
He was about to start his own training before the slip Danzo-jiji gave him fell from his pocket, and he remembered what he was supposed to do.
Chewing on a the ration bar Naruto went over to the Hokage tower and this time entered the mission room alone.
"What do you want," the chunin behind the desk asked as soon as Naruto entered. Though there was no coldness in his eyes Naruto could see that the guy was annoyed.
"Uh," Naruto spoke, "I'm looking for a mission."
"By yourself?" The guy asked, Naruto nodded.
"Well," he spoke, "We have more than enough D-ranks for everyone. Though you won't be able to take a few of them without a team, you can have your picks from the table. We've got walking dogs for a retired ninja, helping up sort waste at the junkyard, cleaning the estate of the Kuroki-clan and washing dishes at the local bistro."
"I'll take the cleaning one," Naruto spoke as the Chunin tossed him a scroll.
"By the way," Naruto asked, suddenly curious "Do I get all the money for this one…and it won't get me in trouble with Kakashi-sensei, will it?"
"Submit in the mission report for success and you'll get the cash," the chunin spoke, "Though it is a bit rare, genin are allowed to take up jobs in and around the village by themselves if they want some extra pocket money."
The gears in Naruto's head shifted wildly, he could earn a lot more even if it meant doing crappy stuff by himself.
"The report should be in the standard format attached with the scroll," the chunin spoke, "Now scram, I've got work to do."
Naruto scurried out and ran towards the estate. He almost found himself entering through his tunnel before remembering that he was actually supposed to be here this time.
He walked over to the gate and knocked, a guard let him in after seeing the scroll. He was directed towards the bigger mansion on the estate where a pretty lady with black hair was waiting for him.
"Uh," Naruto spoke, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki here for my mission…and I'm supposed to give you this."
Akemi Fushiki took the slip and read it once before it was destroyed immediately with a small Katon Jutsu. She looked over at the boy.
"Your mission," she spoke, "Is to clean the mansion and the surrounding gardens, once you are done report to the outhouse on the Northern side for further instructions."
Naruto nodded to her, was she also one of Danzo-jiji's?
Was he going to be knocked out again? It really felt like crap.
Regardless he walked inside the mansion, it was pretty big and awesome looking but there weren't really a lot of people milling around.
Anyways he grabbed the cleaning supplies and started, he had cleaned an entire room grumbling about stupid people with big houses before he realised something important.
There was no Kakashi-sensei around.
So there were no stupid rules about clones.
Happily Naruto made his favourite hand seals as over 30 clones materialised, soon enough they spread throughout the mansion and the garden cleaning and sweeping as fast as they could.
Within an hour it was done, everything went fast when he could use clones.
If only Kakashi-sensei would understand.
Done with the all the crappy cleaning Naruto started walking over to his old hideout. The pretty lady was waiting for him outside and asked him to go to the kitchen.
Naruto walked into the place again, this time officially.
…
Danzo sat behind the table sipping on a cup of green tea as Naruto Uzumaki walked in, he gestured to the boy to sit and he followed his instructions.
"Naruto-san," Danzo spoke, "It seems that you are done with the cleaning with the main estate."
Naruto nodded.
"Then," Danzo spoke, "This building will constitute your living quarters from now on. In exchange for living here on a rent-free basis, and in order to not raise any suspicion, you will routinely clean the main building and gardens in the compound for such a privilege. Do you accept this?"
Naruto just felt his body go numb.
He…could live here? He could have a home?
No…he had one now.
Danzo-jiji was awesome-ttebayo!
"Thanks jiji!" Naruto nearly toppled the table as he tackled the Danzo off his seat in a hug.
Danzo for his part was pleased, while the overt display of emotions was not befitting of a shinobi, the current actions of the boy signified something important.
He had succeeded in winning the boy's trust, and it would ensure his obedience.
His plan had been successful.
…
Naruto grinned as he formed the seals of his favorite technique for the second time in the day. Ten clones appeared and started running around the place dusting and cleaning everything they could see. Naruto walked into the kitchen to see that all the cupboards were full of food, and that the fridge was packed with milk, eggs and vegetables.
He had never seen so much food in his life.
For the second time in the day he agreed, Danzo-Jiji was awesome.
Jiji told him that he was to start training from 5 in the evening everyday, and then again at 5 in the morning everyday again. Plus he had to eat exactly as per the diet that had been given to him. Naruto had been a bit disappointed that he couldn't have ramen as much, but he was told it was a part of training so he'd do it.
Right now Naruto had a bit of time before he had to go to the cupboard and down to train, so he looked around the house. His clones had cleaned one of the bedrooms upstairs and were currently airing an old mattress and a blanket out of the window. There was a nice old bed that he could use at night, but a pity that he didn't find any old clothes.
He checked out the cupboard, it was almost big enough to walk into.
He'd need to buy some clothes now, hopefully there'd be something orange and cool like his jacket somewhere.
With that Naruto walked over to the cabinet under the stairs, his clones had closed off all the windows and doors on the ground floor as per Jiji's instructions so that no one could see him. He didn't want to be late on his first day of training.
It was gonna be Awesome! Believe it!
…
Naruto climbed down the tunnel, grateful that a rope ladder had been strung along a wall. How did these guys get down before?
As he got down he found Ginko waiting for him, he was ushered into the same room they had fought in before.
"Naruto-san," Ginko spoke, "Beginning today we shall be working on your physical conditioning and Taijutsu, this will be done twice a week."
'Twice a week?' Naruto thought, 'But I train everyday-ttebayo!'
"Now," Ginko gestured, "Wear this vest and strap on these weights as per the diagram, your physical training will commence in five minutes."
Naruto did as he was instructed, though the vest and weights didn't feel really heavy.
'This is gonna be easy-ttebayo.'
"Now complete 4 sets of 25 pushups each, no chakra must be utilised."
Naruto paled a bit, maybe this wasn't going to be this easy.
An hour and a half later, Naruto felt like he had been through hell 7 times. Each and every part of his body felt sore. He was feeling pain on parts of his body that he did not even know existed. Who knew he had been doing push-ups the wrong way? That you had to go all the way down doing while doing sit-ups? And that you weren't supposed to jump when doing a pull-up…
He'd been doing all the stuff…wrong. Now he realised just how difficult, or in some cases how easy it was to train.
"Stretch," Ginko commanded, "We will be working with your taijutsu stances and movements for the next hour."
Naruto groaned, but stood up with determination in his eyes. If this didn't make him Hokage, then he doubted anything else would.
An hour later he simply collapsed, his body refused to move even an inch as he saw Danzo-jiji move into the room and speak with Devil-sensei AKA Ginko.
"The program we are putting you through Naruto-san," Danzo spoke, "Is the standard shinobi speed training program of the Leaf Village. This is the same kind of training that made the Yondaime-Hokage the fastest Shinobi on the continent."
Naruto found himself smiling despite how tired he was, he was getting the same training as the Yondaime Hokage!
Take that Sasuke-teme!
"Now eat as per the provided schedule and rest," Danzo spoke, "You are expected to be here by 5 tomorrow morning."
With that Jiji was gone.
Despite his body's vehement protests Naruto got up, he took off the vest and the other weights as Ginko-san gave him a weird looking yellow drink.
Naruto chugged it in a single sip, it tasted like sugar and chalk powder.
'This is all training,' Naruto reminded himself.
"Make sure that you eat as per schedule Naruto-san, and follow the instructions written in tis scroll once you have recovered." Ginko spoke as Naruto nodded. He started feeling a bit better after the drink settled in his stomach and slowly made his way back home.
…
(Danzo's Office)
"Danzo-sama," Ginko bowed as he entered the office.
"Report," Danzo spoke, he was eager to know how much the boy could be pushed.
"Subject Naruto Uzumaki has a slightly higher endurance than we had pegged," Ginko spoke, "We were able to compress over 5 days of workout into a span of 2 hours after I permitted him to utilise chakra for a few exercises in order to break his muscles. His Taijutsu will need major improvements, otherwise he has a high threshold for reacting to pain and his natural instincts could make him a formidable fighting force. I have given him a scroll for a few rudimentary chakra control exercises."
Danzo nodded as Ginko disappeared, being able to squeeze several days worth of workout into a few hours was highly advantageous. If Surume could confirm that all the muscles in the boy's body had healed by next morning, then it would mean that the entire speed training program could be completed within a span of little over 30 months.
30 months, perhaps a few months more if the boy had to be used for vital missions. Within that time Danzo would have created a speed demon on the same level as the Yondaime Hokage. Training with the Fox's chakra could wait until his body was a bit more conditioned, his experience with Kushina had taught him as much.
Alone in his office Danzo smiled openly for the first time in years, things were finally going according to him.
…
(Naruto's House)
Naruto pulled himself up the ladder, he was able to catch the edge of the trapdoor as he felt a pair of hands hold his arm and help him up.
'Eh?' Naruto thought, was there someone else here?
Following the arms Naruto saw his own self…
…That's right! He created clones before he went down to train.
He was awesome!
"You look like crap boss," the clone spoke.
"Yeah," Naruto spoke, "Jiji's a sadist. You guys make the crap Jiji asked me to eat?"
"We tried," the clone spoke gesturing towards the kitchen, "But you suck at cooking, so I don't really know if you'll like it."
Naruto walked over to the kitchen and pounced on the food.
It was…crap.
The rice was undercooked and chewy, the eggs were burnt, the fish tasted like a dried leaf and the soup was just hot water and a bunch of badly cut floating vegetables.
Nevertheless Naruto was hungry, and as he was told to eat this much everyday as a part of training he ate it all.
'I really needed to learn cooking-ttebayo,' Naruto thought as he ate the chewy rice. He had never really had the ingredients to actually cook, but if he had to eat as per the chart Danzo-Jiji gave him then he really needed to learn how to make all this stuff.
Things were easy when he could just eat ramen…
…but this was training! He bet his mom did just that what he was doing and became awesome, so he'd do the same.
'Ack,' Naruto grimaced, 'Next time, remove the bones before eating a fish.'
…
(Morning)
Naruto woke up groggily as he looked at the clock, it was 4: 45 AM and he really wanted to sleep. But he was supposed to train from 5 in the morning, so he had little choice but to wake up.
Creating a clone to go to the kitchen he brushed his teeth and washed his face before changing and going downstairs. The clone gave him the drink he was supposed to consume before training and dispersed after giving him a mock salute.
Naruto looked at the mug, scrunched his nose and downed the entire mug in a single gulp.
'Yuck,' He thought, 'It tastes like sewage.'
How the hell was eating crappy stuff going to make him strong was beyond him, but he had to do as Jiji told him.
Afterall he made a promise.
Sighing he made a few hand-seals and 5 clones popped into existence and began running around the house. The original meanwhile walked under the stairs and disappeared.
…
(Underground)
Naruto stood still, his arms spread wide as Surume poked him around and Jiji stood in the background.
"Do you feel any pain?" she asked as she poked him in the bicep with a small rod.
"Not really," Naruto spoke, "I mean it's a little sore but not really painful."
She asked him a bunch of other questions before Fuu came in and took him to another room.
…
"Subject Naruto Uzumaki's muscles have already healed by over 70% in the last 8 hours," Surume spoke, "Given the fact that he was given a mixture of sugar, protein and electrolytes immediately after the workout and that he has eaten the prescribed meal last night the efficiency of his regeneration has increased by 40% and muscle damage is down by 80%. His new muscles are forming in the intended manner, and he should be able to use them completely in a few hours."
Danzo read through the report, the current healing rate meant that the boy could be trained at the intended pace. Intense physical training sessions, even if done only twice or thrice a week meant that Uzumaki could fit intense sessions that would usually take about 2 weeks into a single week and still have time to cope up with other remedial lessons that had been planned. Coupled with the shadow clone technique, this could very well achieve outstanding results.
Unfortunately that would have to wait, he needed to develop the boy's mental fortitude to a level whereby he could remove the artificial barrier in his brain which shut out the memories of the clones. It would take months before he could even think about delving into the subject of his shattered psyche and utilise the Fox's Chakra.
But he had to remember that the boy was Hatake's charge, atleast formally. This was until Danzo could gather enough support to leverage and take the boy for himself.
Therefore, in a way slow progress was the answer to all questions. Any drastic changes in the boy's personality would be clearly marked by his Jonin teacher, and while Danzo was confident that the boy would not speak by himself about who was training him but Konoha's T&I division knew how to get information out of anyone.
So…Danzo would wait. He would train the boy from the shadows until he could step into the light himself.
Afterall if there was one thing in abundance that Danzo seemed to have, it was time.
…
Meditation was a novel thing for Naruto, he had not really paid much attention to it in the academy as sitting in one place doing nothing just made him fall asleep. He would rather run laps, work on his accuracy or just spar. Meditation had been boring.
That was until Fuu-sensei told him he was doing it wrong. He was made to sit in the lotus position, his arms on his knees and given instructions none of his teachers in the academy gave him.
Who knew he had to sit in a particular way…and that you were actually supposed to pay attention to things like your breath instead of just sitting around. It was still boring…but Fuu-sensei was nicer than Ginko-sensei so Naruto just did as he was told.
"Pay attention to your breath," Fuu spoke, "Remember, your mind will keep thinking of things, but instead of chasing after those thoughts focus on your breath. Do this until you are instructed to stop."
So Naruto did as he was told, for the first 10 minutes he kept thinking about ramen, how he was going to beat Sasuke-teme and how he would bring a bunch of roses for Sakura-chan and she'd see how nice he was compared to the jerk. Each time he started thinking, somehow Fuu-sensei knew and would tap him on the shoulder telling him to focus on the breath again.
20 minutes into the exercise, and the flow of thoughts seemed to slow down, and Naruto felt a tug of near his head.
A minute later, and Naruto felt as though his entire body was being pulled, he kept hearing voices in his head, he could see his failures and the mocking jeers on the faces of everyone when he couldn't do anything.
He felt really uncomfortable and just wanted to get up and leave. He couldn't take it anymore.
Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Naruto," Danzo spoke, "Do as Fuu says, focus on your breathing. Do not let your thoughts or emotions guide you. You are not to stop."
Naruto took a deep breath and tried focusing on it again. Slowly the voices started to fade away and about an hour later he was told that he could open his eyes. He couldn't exactly tell why, but everything felt a bit different than before. It was like he could feel his entire body as it moved, and his could feel everything around him in a new way.
It felt good.
"Now," Fuu spoke, "We will be adding chakra to the exercise. This time instead of focusing on your breath focus on the chakra within you. Let it flow through your entire body."
Naruto nodded and took his position, with his mind a bit clearer he started feeling his chakra like Iruka-sensei had taught him. He was able to feel it as it flowed and directed it like Fuu-sensei said.
It took many tries, but finally he was able to do it.
"Now open your eyes," Fuu spoke.
Naruto did as he was told. He was feeling just like he did when he had meditated, but a million times better. He could see stuff that his eyes just ignored, he could hear the fly across the room, he could smell the remains of tea…
…he could also sense that there was someone in here other than Fuu-sensei and Danzo-jiji.
So he sprang to his feet and threw a kunai at the corner of the room. Suddenly the shadows started moving and the kunai was swatted away.
"Naruto," Fuu spoke, "Stop, Kagebo is an ally."
"But he was hiding," Naruto pointed out.
"Under my instructions," Danzo spoke, "But how did you know he was there?"
Afterall Kagebo was one of Danzo's best infiltrators. He had been unable to utilise the ranged shadow attacks like other in the Nara clan, but his ability to blend within them made him nearly invisible to the naked eye. Beneath the shadows he was undetectable even to the feared Byakugan unless the user was aware of him.
"Uhh," Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I dunno, like I was doing the thing with Chakra like Fuu-sensei said, and then there was violet stuff in Fuu-sensei, yellow stuff in Jiji and suddenly there was a bit of brown coming from the corner so…"
'It seems the Uzumaki blood is still strong,' Danzo thought. Kushina had not been a very good sensor, but it seems that those genes had been strengthened by his father's sensory abilities.
"…was I not supposed to do it – sense him I mean?" Naruto asked.
"Not exactly," Danzo spoke, "Have you been able to do it before? Perhaps during your academy chakra tutorials?"
Naruto just looked down at his feet.
"Naruto," Danzo spoke with a voice of authority, "Speak, this is an order."
"Suirashi-sensei," Naruto fidgeted, "Wasn't really nice like Fuu-sensei, she just told me sit up straight, and when I fell asleep I was…kicked out for a week. The books had too many big words, and then we started doing jutsu so I didn't really try the feeling stuff."
'So it seems,' Danzo thought. The boy had never been taught to extend his senses, meaning that his sensory abilities had never been tested. If things had been left as it is then this ability itself would have receded like an unused muscle, and the village would have been deprived of a sensory shinobi.
Another testament to Hiruzen's folly. Afterall hereditary abilities were always recessive. If the boy had not been trained in his abilities, as he was still on paper, then the ability would have fizzled out on its own, possibly for generations.
But now it had been awakened, and now Danzo had him.
"It is not something everyone can sense," Danzo spoke, "But you spoke of colours as you mentioned everyone, please elaborate."
…
'Unbelievable,' Danzo thought as he read on what the boy had spoken. Not only did he have a sensory ability, but he could even sense the elemental nature of any person in close proximity. The ability was still in its rudimentary stages given that the boy had not been trained as a sensor, but with training it could make the boy into a terrifying force on the battlefield.
A shame he didn't have the other clan abilities his mother possessed, but Danzo could work with what he had.
"Report," Danzo spoke as Fuu came forward.
"Subject's sensory abilities presently extend to a radius of about 50 meters," Fuu spoke, "The ability grows weaker thereafter and he is able to detect signatures which are not concealed. His ability to analyse chakra Nature's on the other hand has a limited radius of 4 meters and requires greater concentration. Aside from this we seem to have atleast scratched the surface of his other psyche, though most of the memories he seems to have recalled are not severe in any form. Although a higher level of guidance is recommended in the future."
Danzo nodded a Fuu spoke. The boy's records indicated that meditation by itself would be a challenge given his 'other self' in his mind, and if the tension the boy went through in the first stage was any indication then the memories that were sealed away were likely to have severe implications on his mind, possibly making the boy question his own loyalty to the village.
Which was why Danzo had decided to remain present personally for these sessions. Fuu had prepared a detailed plan to increase the boy's mental fortitude, but it would require an anchor on which the boy could rely upon, it had to be someone the boy trusted.
Naturally, Danzo had volunteered himself for the position. He had wanted to firstly ensure that the boy would remain loyal to the village, and secondly being the only person to accompany the boy into the darkest depths of his mind, he would gain his unquestioned loyalty.
…
(Post Training)
Naruto looked on as his clones put up a dish of boiled eggs before him alongwith burnt toast and milk. Scrunching his face he started eating and completed his meal. As he got up from the table he vowed to learn how to cook, and to learn it fast. He was just allowed 1 bowl of ramen in a day, and he couldn't live with the crap that his clones cooked.
Putting on his clothes he got out of the house, making sure that everything was locked before he went to meet his team.
(Post Noon)
'Today has been a day of less crappy missions', Naruto thought as he walked away from the bridge. His team's mission for the day had been to clean a park, they had been done faster than before and Kakashi-sensei had said that they could take the day off before poofing out.
As soon as sensei left Sasuke-teme had gone away somewhere too, Sakura-chan trailing behind him as Naruto was left alone.
He was almost going to start his training before he remembered what Jiji told him, he was not supposed to train on his own and had to follow the plan that they gave him.
'Well,' Naruto thought, 'Maybe I could take a crappy mission myself?' Only eating 2 meals at home had caused a considerable dent in all the food Jiji gave him. The clones had wasted a lot of stuff while cooking, apparently getting into a foodfight as well. He was out of eggs and really low on flour, plus he really didn't want to ask anyone else for money.
With that Naruto walked over to the tower.
"You again?" the chunin asked as Naruto walked in, "Didn't your team just complete the Park mission? Do you like doing D-ranks kid?"
"I need the money," Naruto shrugged, "and what I make right now isn't enough to pay the bills."
"Well," the guy leaned back, his tone became a bit softer as he pulled out a scroll from the pile, "Since we're in the middle of harvest season I think I have something that could pay a bit more, but it's a bit too much for just one guy."
"I handle it-ttebayo!" Naruto voiced.
"Uh…" the chunin scratched his head. Generally such missions were taken by Genin teams, not a single person. But considering the rumours of the boy's ability with clones and the fact that he had somehow managed to clean an entire estate within a day he could probably give the boy a chance, "Then you can take this. You're supposed to help a farmer in a nearby village harvest his crop, it's out of the village walls so you'll need a pass before going…"
Naruto took the scroll and pocketed it, he was about to move out before the chunin called him back.
"Take this," the chunin spoke as he threw an envelope to Naruto. He opened it, and to his surprise there was quite a bit of cash inside.
"Its your payment for yesterday's mission," the chunin spoke, "Good job cleaning the estate, the clients have given a positive feedback. Make sure that you keep it up."
Naruto beamed at the praise.
He was aweosome-ttebayo!
"Thank you chunin-san!" He bowed just like he had seen some guys do before he ran out.
"Heh," Sangetsu Homito rubbed his chin, he didn't really hate the boy because of the fox, but he hadn't paid much attention to him either, "Nice kid."
…
(Outside the Village)
Naruto jumped from branch to branch as he looked at the map he had been given at the village gate. The farming village wasn't very far away and he was at the given address in under an hour.
"Just one?" The client, a middle aged man spoke, "I was expecting a bunch of you guys."
Naruto just narrowed his eyes.
"Anyways," the man spoke, "come at the back kid, we got a lot of work to do."
Naruto went to the farm, a sea of golden stalks was seen as far as his eyes could see.
"We've got to harvest this wheat," the guy spoke, "We're not getting much labour from rice country these days, so I had to go with you guys. Now look here…"
Naruto looked on as the man picked up a scythe and showed him how he was supposed to go about cutting the crop.
"…and when you're done with this much," the man gestured to an area, "you tie it up as I showed you and put it in the barn. You got it kid?"
Naruto nodded.
"Then let's get to work," the man spoke, "My family will be joining us soon-"
"Multi Shadow Cone Technique!" Naruto spoke as 40 clones popped into existence, each holding its own scythe.
"Get to work boys!" Naruto spoke.
"OSU!" All the clones spoke in unison as 10 of them took each side and started working.
In little over an hour everything was done. The entire field seemed barren as the clones were pulling up the remaining stumps.
"Man," the guy spoke, "You ninjas really know nifty tricks."
"Naruto Uzumaki at your service," Naruto spoke up as he grinned.
"Takezo Kenta, thanks for the job," the man spoke, soon enough a woman and a few kids came around with tools.
"Alright kids, we got work to do so-" the woman spoke before she pointed to the field…and her jaw dropped.
"Honey!" Kenta spoke, "We're done, thanks to Uzumaki-san here." He pointed to Naruto.
"Boss!" a clone came running, "What do we do with all the stumps?"
"Uhh," Kenta spoke, "Just put them near the barn, I'll have the shredder ready for tomorrow. I wasn't really expecting this to be done so fast so I haven't taken it out yet."
"You got it," Naruto spoke to the clone as it went back and began shouting at the others.
The woman and the kids looked on in fascination as copies of the boy in front of them loaded all the stumps.
"Uzumaki-san," the woman spoke, "On behalf of my husband and my family I convey our highest regards for your action. Thank you very much."
Naruto felt his cheeks reddening as he rubbed his head, he wasn't really used to praise, let alone from a pretty lady.
"…would you care to join us for lunch?" she asked, "It isn't much but we would be honoured to have you on the table."
"Uhh, sure." Naruto spoke, he was actually hungry and walked with the family to their house. It wasn't anything special, just some plain rice, soup and vegetables with meat. Kenta-san's wife, Shiomi had insisted that he eat more and had served him by the ladleful.
"You're a really good cook," Naruto spoke, remembering that he needed to buy stuff for his own house, "Do you know a place where I could buy eggs and stuff?" He was not going to shop in the village now, he had enough experience as it was.
"We have hens in the farm," Shiori-san spoke, "and we'll even give you a discount on the eggs. But for other things I would recommend the ration shop at the north side of the village, Kenta can show you around if you want."
"Yeah," Kenta spoke, "I'll take you to Hibachi's too, you can buy the best meat there; and Kirito and his brothers have the best vegetable farm in the village."
After lunch Naruto and Kenta had walked around the village. He took Naruto to the ration shops, the vegetable farms and to the small market in the village.
"…we got trading caravans coming and going from here," Kenta spoke, "This is a less used road between Genkai and Hinokakujin (The Fire Capitol) so we don't get much traffic, but we've got merchants coming and going so you might just snag something nice if you keep coming around."
He even introduced Naruto to a tailor, a nice lady who was very happy when he had ordered her to stich 3 new jackets, trousers and a lot of undershirts.
"…nii-chan, can all ninja's do it?" the lady's young son asked as he pointed to Naruto's clones holding his groceries.
"Nope," Naruto spoke, "But I can, because I'm awesome!"
The boy had looked at him with starstruck eyes.
At the end Naruto had left the village, with about 3 clones trailing behind holding on to bags and sacks of groceries, vegetables, and in one case – goat milk which had been recommended by Shiomi-san.
Jumping from tree to tree as his clones trailed behind at a sedated pace, Naruto couldn't help but recap the entire day again and again in his mind.
It had felt so…different. Kenta-san and his family had been super-nice to him, almost everyone in the village had. It had felt so good to be appreciated that Naruto was tempted to just jump and go back.
I don't need to be the Hokage.
He stopped.
I don't need to work for everyone's acknowledgement.
He turned.
I can have everything I want back there.
He ran.
"…you will protect the village with your life."
"…nice job..Keep it up."
Naruto stopped again, he felt his face heat up as he remembered. Even if there were stupid people in the village, he had made a promise to Danzo-Jiji; and even above that he had made a promise to himself years ago.
He was going to be the Hokage.
He didn't know how he would do it, but he was. He was going to train with Jiji and become awesome like his mom…and then he was going to surpass her and every other Hokage before him.
He was Naruto Uzumaki, and he was going to show it to the world that he was awesome!
…but that didn't mean he couldn't go out every once in a while. Shopping like he had today had been a load of fun and he was really not looking to buy stuff the old way again.
With that Naruto jumped back to the trees and rushed to the village. He was to train at 5 and he didn't want to be late.
…
(Nearby treetops)
"This is Cat from Patrol unit 5," the ANBU spoke, "Naruto Uzumaki is returning towards the village."
With that her job was done, normally ANBU Patrols of the village didn't check up on Genin who were still technically within Konoha's boundary…but Naruto Uzumaki was a special case and had his own protocol in case his Sensei was not around. The kid's ability with clones was actually impressive, but to her it didn't look like he could do much else.
Outside the periphery of her vision, a crow made of ink flew off into the sky.
…
(Evening)
Naruto growled in frustration as he tore off the page from his notebook and threw it into an already overloaded bin. Since the last one hour Fuu-sensei had been making him write Kanji with a brush, and it was boring.
…but Fuu-sensei was nice. He didn't call him out for getting anything wrong like everybody else seemed to always do.
"Perhaps increasing the size might help," Fuu spoke, "Make it as big as the page if you can, but the Kanji must be perfectly drawn."
Naruto banged his head on the table but obeyed. Maybe this was to help with the dancing letters?
…
(2 months later)
"…stupid Jiji keeps making me do stupid stuff," Naruto mumbled as he read about the history of the village, "making me do stupid chakra-control and the stupid Kawarimi all the time. When am I going to learn cool jutsu..."
The past 2 months had made the blond incredibly frustrated. He had fallen into a routine: to get up, meditate, do chakra control exercises and do sensory stuff with Fuu-sensei. Then meet his team and do a crappy mission and team training, then do more crappy missions on his own to get spending-money. Then, depending on which day of the week it was he would either get his ass kicked by Ginko-sensei, or Fuu-sensei or Surume-sensei would make him do stupid writing, correct his katas or teach him how to throw weapons.
All of this while he wasn't taught any cool jutsu. What was worse was that he had spied a bit on Sasuke-teme today and Kakashi-sensei was actually teaching him a cool fire-jutsu. Sasuke had blown multiple fire balls and scorched 3 of the training stumps before he and Kakashi-sensei had disappeared. Even Sakura-chan had been reading more books and was getting good at dispelling Genjutsu.
Like the teme needed any more techniques, he already had one from what Naruto knew but he still got a cool jutsu and seemed to be getting even stronger while Naruto was still stuck doing uncool and stupid stuff which he couldn't even tell anyone about.
'How am I supposed to be Hokage if no one teaches me the cool stuff?' Naruto thought.
The only thing that seemed to have actually improved in him were his cooking skills, he was now able to make passable food and wasn't forced to eat crap everyday.
"Meow"
'Not again,' Naruto thought, while his new home was really nice it had an issue with the animals that came in with the smell of food. Cats were especially troubling as they always found some way inside.
"Get out!" Naruto screamed from the kitchen as the cat ran off, but not before it knocked a vase off the table.
Suddenly time seemed to slow down.
There were few things in the world that were really precious to Naruto. Of them, he had really valued the vase he proudly kept in his living room. It wasn't much to look at, it was a bit off mark and the colouring was bad…but it was a gift.
Suddenly he was in front of the table, with the vase in his hand.
'Wha-,' Naruto thought as he looked around, 'When did I move?'
He had been in the kitchen, screaming at the cat and saw the vase falling. When did he get to the table?
When did he get so fast?
After standing still for a few moments…Naruto grinned.
He didn't have cool fire techniques and Taijutsu like Sasuke, and he wasn't smart like Sakura-chan and couldn't detect any Genjutsu…but he was getting stronger in his own way.
Whatever Danzo-jiji was making him do was working.
Hope everyone enjoyed this.
Stay Safe.
PS
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